Folding machine



H. H. ALLEN.

FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.19.. 191a.-

1,4;O2,035, I Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

earner series.

HARRY HAYWARD ALLEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIG-NOR T0 MARGARET L. HEALD SMITH, 01 WATEBJVLIET, NEW YORK.

FOLDING MAGHIN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

Application filed April 19, 1918. Serial No. 229,646.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY I'IAYWARD ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for folding, turning and pressing the edges of fabric blanks for collars, cuffs, shirt trimmings and analogous articles preparatory to uniting said edges.

Specifically my invention relates to guiding means for the infolder bars or plates of a folding machine as well as to certain new and useful improvements in what are known as thrust blocks in the folding machine art.

As is well known tothose skilled in the art, the infolders of a folding machine or more properly speaking the infolder bars receive a to and fro motion in the operation of the machine and one of the customary means for imparting this motion to the infolder bars consists of cranks provided with crank pins such as, for instance, shown in United States Patent 666,766, Maitland and Beattie, January 29, 1901, or United States Patent 502,678, Norris, August 1, 1893. In machines, for instance, of the Maitland and Beattie type referred to, it is customary to operate each of the infolder bars by means of two cranks. I have discovered that I can dispense with one of said cranks, thus simplifying the machine, and give the infolder bar the same motion that it would have were two cranks used. I accomplish this result by operating each of the folder bars by a single crank in connection with a guide. In the form of my device shown I have only illustrated a portion of a folding machine but enough to render my invention clear to persons skilled in the art.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a table of a folding machine showing two infolder bars and plates, the solid lines representing the infolder bars and plates in their outward position while the dotted lines represent the same in their inward or folding position. Fig. 2 represents an elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 while Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings similar letters represent corresponding parts in which 1 represents the table of a folding machine, 2 the vertically movable bed; 3 are the infolders or infolder bars to which are attached the infolder plates at in any well known manner as by the ears 5 adjustable on the infolder bars 3 in any well known manner as, for instance, by means of the screws 6 working in the slots 7. The infolder bars 3 are reciprocated or moved to and fro in any well known manner as, for instance, by means of the crank discs 8 provided with the pins 9 engaging the ears 10 attached to the infolder bars 3.

10 and 11 represent thrust blocks at the ends of the machine of the ordinary type, their function being the well known one of taking the upward thrust of the infolder bars on the upward movement of the bed 2 in the folding operation.

12 represents additional thrust blocks, each of which is loosely pivoted to a bolt or pivot 13 fast to the table top. Each of the thrust blocks 12 is connected to an infolder bar 3 by any suitable means as by the pins 1 1. The thrust blocks 12 it will be seen, therefore, have two functions. That is to say, when the pressing operation takes place said thrust blocks 12 are in the positions shown in dotted lines marked 15 in Fig. l and the infolder bars 3 have been moved inward in the folding operation so that they overlie for a portion of their width the vertically movable bed 2 as shown in Fig. 2. In this position the infolder bars 3 have moved the infolder plates 4 over the edges of the die (not shown) to fold a blank whose edges are then pressed by moving the bed 2 in an upward direction in the customary manner. During this operation the parts 12 serve as thrust blocks and also as guides for the infolder bars 3, thus greatly simplifying the construction of the machine, by reason of the fact that only one crank is necessary to operate an infolder bar where formerly two were required.

Having thus illustrated and described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

The combination with a folding machine having a fixed bed of a pair of infolder bars adapted to rest normally upon the fixed bed, operating cranks for moving the infolder bars, a "vertically movable bed, thrust up the vertical thrust of the movable bed blocks pivoted to the fixed bed and to the when the bed is operated in the pressing infolder bars, the combination being such operation.

that when the cranks move'the infolder bars HARRY HAYWARD ALLEN. from the fixed bed toward and over the mov- Witnesses: able bed the thrustblocks Will serve as CHARLES Gr. ALLEN,

guides to the infolder bars and will also take W. H. LEAOH. 

